A Thousand Splendid Suns

This is not a book to read if you want an uplifting, feel-good, happily-ever-after story. But it's a gripping, heart-wrenching account of real life that is hard to put down and even harder to forget. While "Kite Runner" tells of the friendship of two boys growing up in Afghanistan and the lives they are led to, this book tells about the lives of women in the midst of that country's turmoil in contemporary times. You get an overwhelming look "behind the scenes" at a society where custom and belief allow male domination and vicious oppression of wives (yes, plural). You see the devastation of war as families are torn apart or destroyed; the role of the US intervention in the post 9/11 era, and the struggle between political factions and war lords. And you see the actions of a disturbed man dominating and punishing his wives with deep cruelty - hard to comprehend that someone could be so evil in a marriage relationship. But you also see the warmth and love that come as two desperate women join together to provide support and defense. In the end, there is hope after all. Only the depressing themes keep this off my "all time favorite" list. What a writer - what will he come up with next!

It's not a good thing when you're driving along in your car crying, yelling, cheering and experiencing all kinds of powerful emotions!

But..that's the reaction I had to this masterpiece about 2 amazing women who begin as enemies and end as soul mates because of all they had to live through.

We have NO idea how lucky we are, living in the freedom called America, until we read about the lives of those who suffer in third world countries. It's hard to even imagine that there are still people who believe and behave as Rashid did...and yet...we know there are.

And, while this doesn't purport to be a true story..it might as well be because it is so believable that you picture everything as if it was in front of you. It is magnificently written and, the reader is equally as wonderful.

I loved Kite Runner and I equally loved a Thousand Splendid Suns. I could not stop listening and I anxiously await his next novel.

This book did not disapppoint! If you liked Mr. Hosseini's first book, The Kite Runner, then you will LOVE this book! This book is a beautiful story and I was hooked from the opening chapter. Atossa Leoni does a magnificent job reading this wonderful book as I felt like I was "in" the story. I HIGHLY recommend this book...a must for your summer reading list!

This is truly a magnificent book. Having read the Kite Runner, I was expecting the book to be good, and I was not disappointed. The main character in Kite Runner was not an exemplary character although his character takes a turn for the better in the latter part of the book. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the characters are true throughout. This was a book that I could not put down, once I had started. I would not recommend that this book be read in the abridged format. Reading the abridged version of this book would cause the reader to lose too much.

For a man from beautiful mountains near beautiful Sydney Australia, this book is so far removed from my experience that I thought this fact alone would serve as a barrier to my enjoyment of this book. Blessed am I to live where I live and have the history I have.
But such is the power of this author and narrator, to pick me up, swirl me, and drop me into this sprawling, gorgeous epic. This book, narrated beautifully, took me from laughter, to tears, to sick in the stomach. The characters are so alive, so pressed into reality, that it felt like I was there beside them.
Never has an audiobook had me inventing reasons to drive, just so I could continue listening to it. Part romance, part history and part epic, I can not recommend this highly enough. I now cannot wait to buy and listen to The Kite Runner.

This is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching book. At its core, this book is about love, resistance, and resilience. However, the story is filled with such random violence and subjugation, both of the Afghani people at the hands of the Soviets, Jihadists, and Taliban, and of the two women through whom the story is told, that it made my heart ache. I am at a loss to describe just how powerful this story is.

While the Kite Runner was about fathers and sons, this book focuses mainly on women and their relationships, while also giving the listener a glimpse of daily life in Afghanistan before and after the Taliban. Once I started listening, I couldn't stop. It is very emotional, but gripping and exciting, too. Don't miss this deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith....and love.

Make no mistake, Khaled Hosseini is a very talented author, as his tremendous success with The Kite Runner and A Thousand Spledid Suns will attest.

For me, I enjoyed The Kite Runner a little bit more. This is strictly a personal opinion based on the extreme amount of suffering and pathos in this, Hosseini's second novel.

Even writing the review is difficult for me, as I don't wish to criticize the writer's talent. It isn't that at all. Rather, the subject matter of extreme abuse of women is in itself difficult to digest, and I could not find any pleasure whatsoever in this story.

Very well written, to be sure. Emotionally provocative, without a doubt. The story will resurrect many memories of the news stories we all saw regarding the Taliban after 9-11. Only this is a lot more personal, as the reader gets to intimately identify with the oppressed.

... so I can go back and re-live it. Just don't listen while you're trying to drive. It made me cry. Excellent historical reference, character definition, and narration. An outstanding audio book.

This is a deeply moving story. It is beautifully written and the narrator carries you into the heart of war-torn Afghanistan and the characters are clearly in front of you as you listen. The fate of the two women seems out of their control as they are bound by the laws of the Muslim world, but we learn that they are masters of their destiny when they make difficult decisions in the most important matters of their lives. I cannot imagine being as courageous as they. This author presents us such valuable lessons about what is real and enduring in human nature even in the face of violence, chaos, rejection, misery and deprivation.